In recent years, virtualization technology in which a virtual machine is operated on a physical server is in general use. For example, in data centers, environments for running a virtual machine on a physical server using a virtualization program are on the rise. The virtualization program has a function of moving a virtual machine running on a physical server to a physical server in another data center. Such moving of a virtual machine is referred to as “migration”.
The following technique is proposed using this migration function. First, data centers are disposed to be distributed geographically. Then, if electric energy consumed at a certain data center exceeds a predetermined power consumption threshold value, a data center having power consumption less than or equal to a specific threshold value is identified, and a virtual machine is caused to migrate to the identified data center. Such a technique is provided.
As related-art technical literature, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication Nos. 2009-48607, 2003-299248, and 2009-247188 are disclosed.
Incidentally, data centers are generally receiving power from a power company. However, if it is assumed that a data center is receiving power only from a power company, it is sometimes not possible to operate a system in a stable manner by related-art techniques. For example, if a failure occurs in power distribution facilities, a power transmission and distribution network, or the like of the power company, and thus power supply is stopped, it is not possible to operate a system in a stable manner by related-art techniques.